Tag Archive: Black Liberation

We are thrilled and honored to announce that just hours ago, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Brady’s 2013 ruling overturning Albert’s conviction for a third time in a 3-0, unanimous decision (view a PDF of the official court ruling here).

Though the courts have finally ruled in the interest of justice, it may still be months or years before this innocent man is released from his solitary cell.

This is THE moment those of us whose lives have been touched by these men and this case over the years have been waiting for. This is the time when we must call upon the whole of our connections, creativity, and courage to call with one voice for the immediate, unequivocal release of Albert Woodfox from prison once and for all without delay.
Even with a unanimous decision in Albert’s favor, firmly planted in a mountain of innocence evidence, the State can still tie up his release in a number of appeals and even choose to re-indict and attempt to retry him.

Lest we lose Albert to delayed justice, as we did Herman, we must all come together to demand that this nightmare finally come to an end. (more…)

The New York Times has published an unredacted version of the famous “suicide letter” from the FBI to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The letter, recently discovered by historian and professor Beverly Gage, is a disturbing document. But it’s also something that everyone in the United States should read, because it demonstrates exactly what lengths the intelligence community is willing to go to—and what happens when they take the fruits of the surveillance they’ve done and unleash it on a target.

The anonymous letter was the result of the FBI’s comprehensive surveillance and harassment strategy against Dr. King, which included bugging his hotel rooms, photographic surveillance, and physical observation of King’s movements by FBI agents. The agency also attempted to break up his marriage by sending selectively edited “personal moments he shared with friends and women” to his wife.

Portions of the letter had been previously redacted. One of these portions contains a claim that the letter was written by another African-American: “King, look into your heart. You know you are a complete fraud and a great liability to all us Negroes.” It goes on to say “We will now have to depend on our older leaders like Wilkins, a man of character and thank God we have others like him. But you are done.” This line is key, because part of the FBI’s strategy was to try to fracture movements and pit leaders against one another. (more…)

NEWARK, N.J. — In a small, brightly lit office in Newark, Ojore Lutalo lays out sheet after sheet of paper covered in disquieting words and images — collages made from photographs and cutouts from magazines pasted alongside the text of legal documents and blueprints and Lutalo’s words. They are the product of his incarceration for nearly 30 years in a New Jersey prison, 22 of them in solitary confinement.

“I would create these collages to help maintain my sanity,” said Lutalo. “I would get up every morning. I would read and write, exercise. I’d write letters. Some days I would do collages all day long. I’d just cut and paste, cut and paste.”

On Nov. 12 and 13, the practice of holding incarcerated people in prolonged isolation will come under international scrutiny when the U.S. government goes before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva, part of a periodic review to assess the country’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture and the first U.S. review under Barack Obama’s administration.

This year the 10-person U.N. committee has repeated its concerns about imposing prolonged isolation on prisoners. In a list of issues to be addressed with the U.S. — including the use of secret detention facilities, Guantánamo Bay and the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” — the committee has asked the government to “describe steps taken to improve the extremely harsh regime imposed on detainees in ‘Supermax security prisons,’ in particular the practice of prolonged isolation.”

The U.S. government insists that “there is no systematic use of solitary confinement in the United States.” There is abundant evidence to the contrary; Latulo can attest to that. He is just one of tens of thousands of men and women who have spent years, sometimes decades, in solitary confinement in the U.S. (more…)

Marshall “Eddie” Conway was the defense minister of the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party. Framed for the murder of two Baltimore police officers in 1970, he was sentenced to life in prison. While in prison, Eddie Conway earned three diplomas, started a prison literacy program, and organized prisoner unions and libraries. Conway has authored two books from prison, Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther, and his exposé The Greatest Threat: The Black Panther Party and COINTELPRO. After serving 43 years in prison, Conway was released on March 4, 2014.

Eddie Conway will be speaking about his time in the Black Panther Party, his prisoner organizing work inside prison, and what his life has been like since being released.

A man convicted in the shooting death of a New Jersey state trooper in a crime that still provokes strong emotion among law enforcement more than 40 years later was ordered released on parole by a state appeals court Monday.

Sundiata Acoli was known as Clark Edward Squire when he was convicted of the 1973 slaying of state trooper Werner Foerster during a stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. Now in his mid-70s, he was denied parole most recently in 2011, but the appellate judges reversed that ruling Monday.

In a 28-page opinion, the panel wrote that the parole board ignored evidence favorable to Acoli and gave undue consideration to past events such as a probation violation that occurred decades earlier.

One of the three people in the car when it was stopped was Joanne Chesimard, who also was convicted of Foerster’s slaying, but eventually escaped to Cuba and is now known as Assata Shakur. Last year, state and federal authorities announced a $2 million reward for information leading to her capture, and the FBI made her the first woman on its list of most wanted terrorists. She and Acoli were members of black militant organizations at the time. (more…)

The Indiana Department of Corrections is taking cruel and racist actions in a number of their prisons.

A New Afrikan prisoner was recently transferred from New Castle (because of their intolerance of his political organizing) to Pendleton, where Internal Affairs are seeking revenge on him for past political organizing. He is being threatened with state court for alleged weapons possession, while many members of the Aryan Brotherhood have recently been caught with upwards of 5 knives each and been only lightly penalized by comparison.

Another prisoner at New Castle dared to organize against the for-profit prison’s lack of transitional programming and transfer-to-population opportunities. For this, he was transferred back to the Secure Housing Unit, where he’s now indefinitely locked up in solitary confinement.

These men are clearly being targeted and excessively punished by a chauvinist administration which allows racist groups to form and thrive within their walls while snuffing out any and all sparks of radical organizing. (more…)

An anonymous group of local anarchists took responsibility for vandalizing Chapel Hill police cars last week.

Someone smashed in the back window of three Ford Crown Victoria cars parked at the Chapel Hill Police Department at 828 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, according to police reports .

Another car was spray-painted. Total damage was valued at $2,200 to the four cars, which ranged in years from 2008 to 2011, the police reports state .

The anonymous anarchists posted a blog taking responsibility for the vandalism on the Prison Books Collective website. (Prison Books Blog Editors’ note: the blog post referenced was reposted from anarchistnews.org and is not original content of the Prison Books Collective. We thought this was quite obvious, but local journalists seem to be having a problem with this.) The Prison Books Collective meets monthly at the Internationalist Books and Community Center to write letters to political and politicized prisoners in the United States .

Lt. Josh Mecimore, a spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police, did not return requests for comment.

Jesse Gardens , a member of the student anarchist group UNControllables, said his group wasn’t affiliated with the damaged cars, but he supports the demonstration.

Gardens said after Chapel Hill police, armed with assault rifles, arrested eight people who were occupying the Yates Motor Company building on Franklin Street, it’s good for police to know residents are watching .

“People here have a good reason to want to disable the weapons and equipment police here have,” Gardens said. “The smashing of the police cruisers sends the message that people are watching.” (more…)

Sekou Kambui has been released from the hospital after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor. He is living and receiving home care in Dothan, AL, and will know of any ongoing treatment to be administered within the month. More updates to follow. Here is to his continued health and well-being!

On June 30th, Sekou Kambui was transferred to a halfway house in Dotham, AL, but he was recently admitted to a hospital because surgery will be needed to remove a tumor. Below is a message from freedom archives that is more of an extensive update, and it goes into ways you can continue to show Sekou Kambui support and solidarity during these times. We also have a full bio on Sekou Kambui on our prisoners page.

-Sacramento Prisoner Support

FREED POLITICAL PRISONER SEKOU KAMBUI IN HOSPITAL

Sekou Kambui, freed after 40 years in prison at the end of June, sends his Thanks, Love, and Appreciation to all his supporters. Unfortunately, he is currently in the hospital. A tumor was found that was partially obstructing his intestines and digestive process. He is undergoing further tests. Sekou will have surgery to remove the tumor next week. He says that he’s being treated well in the hospital, and looks forward to full recovery and a return to A-1 health.

A reminder – we raised close to $1000 for Sekou when he got out recently. You can still contribute. Make your checks out to William Turk and send them to The Freedom Archives address below.

If you want to send any cards of support, please send them to: (more…)